Army Report Detail Misconduct by U.S. Peacekeepers

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 15 -- Nine U.S. Army peacekeepers beat, threatened and illegally detained civilians in Kosovo they were assigned to protect, according to a report to be released by the Army on Monday.

The report could be a severe embarrassment to the 82nd Airborne, an Army division that has a long list of battle achievements, including a major role in the D-Day invasion of Normandy. It was one of the outfits featured in the movie The Longest Day.

Until now, reports of American misconduct in Kosovo have focused on the rape and murder of an 11-year-old girl by an Army sergeant, Frank Ronghi. An American military court sentenced him to life in prison.

During his trial, Ronghi’s lawyer used portions of a classified Army report in an effort to establish that the “dehumanizing” atmosphere in his peacekeeping unit led him to commit the crime.

ABCNEWS has learned the Army’s report will contain graphic details of alleged misconduct by nine of Ronghi’s former colleagues, members of a parachuting unit in the elite 82nd Airborne.

Details of Discipline Problems

Sources tell ABCNEWS.com the 600-page report will provide an unprecedented public look at the scope of misconduct within an Army unit.

Army officials declined to comment on the report other than to emphasize that the alleged misconduct was limited to this one unit, A Company in the 3rd Battalion, 504th Parachute Infantry Regiment. There were 6,000 troops in Kosovo for peacekeeping efforts at the time of the alleged incidents.

Though not as shocking as the January abuse and killing of the Kosovar girl, Merita Shabiu, the report details acts that clearly show a widespread problem with discipline within the unit.

In one instance, according to the report, an officer ordered an enlisted soldier to punch a Kosovar civilian in the stomach. Yet another officer is accused of holding a weapon to the back of a civilian’s head and asking, “Do you want to die?”